Stablecoin Tether (USDT) saw its price take a tumble on Monday, October 15, 2018, temporarily hitting an 18-month low as Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to nearly hit $8,000 on Bitifnex.

The decline happened at a time when the rest of the market, led by Bitcoin (BTC), experienced a rapid surge in price.

Tether (USDT) FUD

Following the sharp drop in the price of USDT, many in the community believed it was the end of Tether, however, the price recovery has definitely refuted that claim, at least for now.

What happened is that an important trader or group of traders dumped their USDT for BTC without the necessary support on the order books (lack of demand/liquidity). This inevitably led to the temporary price decline.

The price decline was further emphasized by a false report that Binance, the leading crypto exchange and largest holder of USDT, was planning to delist Tether (USDT). The false report coincided with a routine Tether wallet maintenance.

The false report was refuted promptly by the company, the wallet maintenance was real and confirmed.

Lowest level for USDT since April 2017

USDT/USD exchange rates dropped to about $0.86 on Kraken, representing the lowest the ‘price-stable’ cryptocurrency has fallen to since it hit similar levels on April 27, 2017.

The leading stablecoin by market capitalization, which may face competition from recently launched counterparts, dropped by 2 percent in the 24-hour trading window yesterday.

Increased competition in Stablecoin submarket

Tether’s decline caused panic within the market, and though it has since recovered to trade at about $ $0.99, and is up 1.46 percent, it’s still vulnerable as its hour-to-hour charts show it is likely to go south again.

Tether panic and Bitfinex premium

Tether’s downtrend saw Bitcoin prices surge on the day, climbing as markets reacted to a sell-off in the stablecoin. All top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap recorded upsides except for USDT.

The tanking experienced by USDT precipitated an uptick in BTC, which rose by a premium of over $600 on Bitfinex, hitting a high of $7,788.

The bitcoin price premium on Bitfinex reached a high of over 11 percent, significantly impacting Bitfinex prices. That prompted the sell-off, as people might have felt the need to get out.

At the time, global exchange rates for BTC prices hit an average high of $6,960, the highest in the last five weeks.

However, Bitfinex experienced the highest fluctuation in BTC prices, which rose to about $7,788. At one point, the BTC/USD pair traded at $7,055 on the exchange, compared to an average of just over $6,600 across global markets.

Bitifinex and Tether relationship

Bitfinex has a close relationship with Tether LLC, the developers of the USDT token. And rumors that the crypto exchange is facing “insolvency issues” (Bitfinex refuted this), and a longstanding misgiving about Tether’s actual holdings in U.S dollars, is said to be at the heart of the price decline.

It is likely that these misgivings will continue to shadow tether and Bitfinex, with traders rotating funds out of the stablecoin into bitcoin. This scenario may also be the reason that the other stablecoins gained at a time USDT prices dropped.

Tether has since released a released a statement, via its Chief compliance officer Leonardo Real urging calm and reassuring the crypto community about the company’s holdings in USDT and U.S dollars to the ratio of 1:1.

Real is quoted as having said that tether is listed on most of the major global exchanges and is “the leading provider of tokenized fiat currencies.”

He added:

“We would like to reiterate that although markets have shown temporary fluctuations in price, all USDT in circulation are sufficiently backed by U.S. dollars (USD) and that assets have always exceeded liabilities.”

He also referred to the June 2018 inspection report by Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP (FSS), which “confirmed that all Tethers in circulation as of that date were indeed fully backed by USD reserves.”

]]>16453Tue, 16 Oct 2018 21:45:26 +0000#bitcoin #coindesk Coinbase Now Lets You Buy and Sell Ethereum Token 0xhttp://bitcoin.nocroom.com/topic/16443-bitcoin-coindesk-coinbase-now-lets-you-buy-and-sell-ethereum-token-0x/Retail investors can now trade the 0x Protocol on Coinbase.com, as well as its Android and iOS apps.

]]>16445Tue, 16 Oct 2018 15:30:09 +0000#bitcoin #coindesk Australian State Eyes Blockchain Upgrade for Property Transactionshttp://bitcoin.nocroom.com/topic/16446-bitcoin-coindesk-australian-state-eyes-blockchain-upgrade-for-property-transactions/The New South Wales state government is trialing blockchain tech from ChromaWay as part of a bid to digitize property conveyance by next summer.

]]>16447Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:40:06 +0000#bitcoin #coindesk Decred Is Turning Its Entire $21 Million Crypto Treasury Over to Investorshttp://bitcoin.nocroom.com/topic/16448-bitcoin-coindesk-decred-is-turning-its-entire-21-million-crypto-treasury-over-to-investors/Decred is handing control of its $21 million treasury and all aspects of the protocol, from consensus through staffing, over to token holders.

]]>16448Tue, 16 Oct 2018 12:59:21 +0000#bitcoin #coindesk The Crypto Protocol Trying to Unite Every Exchange Order Bookhttp://bitcoin.nocroom.com/topic/16449-bitcoin-coindesk-the-crypto-protocol-trying-to-unite-every-exchange-order-book/Imagine the liquidity of every crypto exchange, but in one giant pool. That's what Paradigm aims to build, and investors are on board.

]]>16451Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:00:14 +0000#bitcoin #coindesk Another Top-10 Crypto Exchange Is Adding 4 Stablecoins This Weekhttp://bitcoin.nocroom.com/topic/16452-bitcoin-coindesk-another-top-10-crypto-exchange-is-adding-4-stablecoins-this-week/The Huobi exchange has announced it will add support for four U.S. dollar-pegged cryptos, a day after OKEx did the same.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is of the view that Bitcoin is mostly used by criminals. This was contained in a worded article that was published on its official website on Wednesday, October 10.

Bitcoin is for criminals, idealists, and speculators

The AARP reignited the clash of generations over the subject of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by defining Bitcoin and blockchain in a casually dismissive way.

The body published a glossary of Wall Street buzzwords with the aim of helping the seniors understand the words used by high-finance big shots.

In the article, the group defined Bitcoin as:

“[A] bunch of computer code that a bunch of criminals, idealists and spectators agree is worth real money.”

They added that the value of Bitcoin is volatile, which makes it difficult to use except by criminal groups, idealists, and traders. This argument doesn’t hold well because criminals, like ‘normal’ people, need money to function the same way. Further, the American Dollar remains by far the most popular form of money for criminal and terrorist financing.

The AARP author gave two definitions for blockchain. AARP first defined blockchain as a series of computer software that contains a tamper-proof record of a series of transactions, with the most famous one being the Bitcoin blockchain.

Secondly, AARP believes that blockchain is a word that is now uttered by companies who are looking to attract the attention of investors and their funds.

The definitions of both Bitcoin and blockchain are dismissive and inaccurate and considering the goals of the AARP, it is highly questionable that these definitions have helped their magazine readers at all.

The claim made in the AARP glossary echoes what Jamie Damon, the CEO of JPMorgan, has been saying, that Bitcoin is a fraud. Damon is a long-term skeptic of Bitcoin as he believes only the less intelligent take Bitcoin seriously. Ironically, his firm is moving quickly into entering the space.

As an important publication with authority, up to 38 million of its users may have the wrong impression about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Articles like this will lead to misinformation, further ignorance, and misunderstanding of the potential of such technologies.

Generational difference concerning cryptocurrencies

Circle Financial, in a survey conducted last month, revealed that 25 percent of millennials have expressed interest in purchasing crypto over the next 12 months. For the elderly, only a few have interest in cryptocurrencies and investing in them, according to the same survey.

The younger generation will be the main driving force behind Bitcoin going mainstream and attaining global adoption but nonetheless, elders are an important part of global capital markets, having significantly more savings than the youth.

Articles such as this by the AARP and views by the likes of Jamie Damon will continue to do harm to Bitcoin in the short-term but will not matter in the long-term as the benefits of the technology prevail.

We hope that the AARP’s authors will cover the subject in a better light, with better facts instead of spreading false propaganda to the elderly who don’t know better, especially when it comes to new technologies.

At the moment, Unicoin plans to install several crypto automated teller machines that will make it easier for one to acquire digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP).

Unicoin will also sync its ATM’s in real time to its exchange, allowing users to deposit and withdraw funds using Indian Rupees (INR) in real-time.

The first of 30 Bitcoin ATMs

According to Unocoin, the India-based company will roll out crypto ATMs in three major locations in the country.

Unocoin CEO Sathvik Vishwanath said that the startup would deploy the first 30 ATMs in three cities, with the first already operational in the 12-million people city of Bangalore.

The firm tweeted:

“Unocoin introduces its first ATM at Bangalore. These machines can be used by our KYC verified customers for deposit INR to, and withdraw INR from their Unocoin or Unodax account.”

Apart from Bangalore, the firm also has plans to launch additional crypto teller machines in New Delhi and Mumbai within the next few days.

Users at the ATMs can make deposits or withdrawals beginning with a minimum of 1,000 rupees or $13.5. These amounts will increase by 500 rupees or $6.75 at every account level.

The firm has made it clear that users will access all the digital assets and tokens available on the Unocoin platform as well as its subsidiary crypto-crypto Unodax exchange.

According to Vishwanath, their devices do not have any direct connection with local banks. The ATMs are “stand-alone” devices that have been designed to accept deposits and withdrawals.

He added:

“These ATMs help people to cash in and cash out which was not possible before due to RBI restriction on banks to not provide bank accounts.”

Crypto crackdown in India

Blockchain adoption in India is on the rise, with many companies and institutions looking to blockchain solutions in various sectors. It includes the RBI that earlier said it was open to a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC).

However, the same cannot be said of India’s stance on cryptocurrency, despite an increasing number of crypto users in the country. The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed financial restrictions aimed at crypto exchanges.

In April, the RBI asked all banks to cease from advancing any banking and financial services to the local cryptocurrency exchanges. A ban on the same came into effect in July, essentially cutting off any services banks would offer to crypto exchange platforms.

The move caused uproar within the crypto community, with prices across exchanges in the country experiencing flash crashes.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts petitioned the country’s Supreme Court, challenging the central bank’s blanket ban. But on the ground, there was damage to the exchanges as the prohibition meant platforms could not accept deposits or offer withdrawals in the local Rupee.

The ban also forced some cryptocurrency exchanges to simply shut down, while a few had to adopt new business models to skirt the ban, including operating as exchange-escrowed P2P platforms.

The Supreme Court could not determine the matter and pushed it to a later date, initially scheduled for September. Meanwhile, the RBI filed an affidavit declaring that Bitcoin and other digital assets do not qualify to be declared as money.

India’s crypto exchanges have thus been grappling with reduced volumes as a direct result of the RBI ban.

A good example is the country’s leading platform Zebpay, which has seen its volumes dwindle considerably since April to a complete shutdown.

According to data on XBT.net, Zebpay currently ranks 203 in the world and although active, has no volume reported in the last 24 hours.

The ban on financial institutions is still in force. However, the launch of the ATMs is a big boost to the crypto community in India. Enthusiasts can now make deposits or withdraw funds in Rupee.

As Unocoin’s CEO said, “…the gap is now completely filled by these ATMs.” The only inconvenience would be that users will have to access a crypto ATM to complete these transactions physically.

A new study conducted by Crypto Fund Research has revealed that 20 percent of all the hedge funds launched in 2018 are crypto-focused and that crypto funds now represents 3% of all hedge funds.

Crypto hedge funds gathering steam despite the bear market

The findings from this research show that the crypto hedge fund sector is gathering steam despite the bear market affecting the prices of cryptocurrencies since the start of the year.

According to the research, there is a 90 percent increase in the number of cryptocurrency hedge fund launches in the first three quarters of 2018, and the number is expected to surpass 120 by the end of the year.

Since the start of the year, a total of 600 hedge funds have been launched of which cryptocurrency based funds account for 120. The three leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple are the main targets of these funds, the researchers noted.

Crypto hedge funds have seen a significant increase over the past 2 years as it recorded 18 percent and 20 percent in 2017 and 2018 respectively. This is far better than the 3 percent recorded in 2016 when only 21 crypto hedge funds were launched in total.

Explaining the findings of its research, Crypto Fund Research stated that the number of crypto hedge funds has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2017.

Currently, roughly two-thirds of all currently operational crypto funds have launched in the last seven quarters, through the third quarter of this year.

Despite crypto funds rising in number over the past two years, the overall market picture is still bleak. The data provided by Crypto Fund Research shows that there are 303 crypto hedge funds at the moment.

This is relatively low considering the financial markets has more than 9,000 hedge funds. Also, the crypto funds comprise of just $4 billion in asset value which is a meager amount compared to the $3 trillion controlled by the hedge funds in all markets.

The rise in crypto hedge funds this year dismisses the theories by some who believe that funds, along with similar opportunities, see an influx of interest and investment in bull markets, but not in bear markets.

Crypto hedge funds break from the norm

Joshua Gnaizda, the founder of Crypto Fund Research, while commenting on the findings of the research stated that in 2018, explains that there has been a decrease in the launch of traditional hedge funds this year, however, crypto hedge funds have been an exception to the trend.

He added that the bear market has been in play since the start of the year and regulatory uncertainty persists in much of the world. All those challenges haven’t stopped managers from launching new crypto hedge funds at a record pace.

He went on to add that they don’t believe that the rate of new launches is sustainable long-term as there are some few signs that point to a possible slowdown.

Crypto Fund Research meanwhile identified emerging markets in Australia, China, Malta, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to rival traditional markets in the United States.

The Chairman of CFTC, J. Christopher Giancarlo, believes that the launch of Bitcoin futures has contributed immensely to the increased stability of the cryptocurrency.

He further added that there has been a sizeable increase in institutional participation in the space and that this trend will help the crypto markets improve and mature.

Bitcoin futures helped the market stabilize

During an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, Giancarlo stated that the launch of Bitcoin futures and his agency’s do no harm strategy in allowing those products to begin trading in the face of criticism helped in stabilizing the market.

He noted that those two moves played crucial roles in pooing the Bitcoin price bubble and stabilizing the market over the past few months.

He stated on Friday, October 12 that according to the San Francisco Fed, it was the bitcoin futures emergence that actually busted the bubble in prices that started towards the end of last year.

It has led to Bitcoin achieving a more sustainable level than it experienced last year.

He was citing a research that was carried out by the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve which revealed that the Bitcoin futures launch triggered the decline in prices. It made that possible by providing institutional investors the opportunity to short BTC price.

Most crypto enthusiasts thought that the launch of CBOE and CME Bitcoin futures towards the end of last year would lead to the massive entry of institutional investors and propel the market toward even greater highs.

That hasn’t been the case though as the bear market has affected the prices of all the cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has been trading around the $6,000 region over the past few months, leading to most analysts decreasing their end of the year price target for the cryptocurrency.

Crypto market will mature with the help of institutional investors

Giancarlo went on to note that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of institutional investors that are coming into the cryptocurrency market.

He added that at the current pace, the crypto market will mature in no time and institutional investors should be thanked for that.

He cautioned that there is still a long way to go as there are some issues that have to be resolved. The spot exchanges, the lack of transparency, multiple conflicts of interest, the absence of systems and systems safeguards are all causes for concern.

Giancarlo, however, believes that with time, the market will mature and he expects that maturity to come sooner than expected.

Talking about the role of the CFTC, Giancarlo stated that the agency has intensified its effort at identifying scammers and fraudsters and taking them out of the marketplace as soon as possible.

Giancarlo also called for more innovation around blockchain-related products within the U.S as he believes that the industry has the potential to become a very huge one in the future.

The prime suspect in the 797 million Baht (~$25 million USD) crypto scam that roped in one of Thailand’s high profile celebrities is finally under police custody.

Thai police arrested Parinya Jaravijit on October 11 at the country’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Parinya is the elder brother of Jirapisit Jaravijit, a Thai actor popularly known as “Boom.”

No bail permitted

A day after his arrest, Parinya appeared before a judge at the Ratchadapisek Criminal Court for determination of an application to have him detained pending trial. The court ordered that he be held for twelve days, meaning he will be under police detention up to October 23.

According to local news outlet The Nation, the suspect’s had failed in their frantic efforts to have him released on bail. The publication says that his lawyer’s had asked the court to release him on a 20 million baht bail.

However, the police rejected his bail application on the basis that the suspect was a flight risk. Police prosecutors also argued that the case had caused extensive damages.

More charges

Apart from being the key suspect in the crypto scam involving 797 million baht worth of Bitcoin, Parinya Jaravijit also faces separate double charges linking him to money laundering and fraud.

After his arrest at the Airport, Parinya faced a night-long interrogation by police detectives. His lawyers were present during the questioning.

Parinya was wanted by the police in connection to the case but had allegedly fled to the U.S. However, according to Pol Colonel Chakrit Sawasdee, the U.S immigration police blocked the suspect’s entry into the country since his passport had been revoked.

Thus, though he has maintained his innocence, Parinya had no option but to go back to Thailand.

Celebrity caught in Bitcoin Scam

The Bitcoin scam in Thailand has elicited widespread interest from the public due to the alleged involvement of a famous actor.

In August, Thai police apprehended Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit, one of the country’s top actors, in connection to a cryptocurrency-based scheme.

According to the law enforcement officers, Jiratpisit was among a gang that had deceptively swindled a Finnish businessman of his BTC.

It was alleged that the gang tricked the Finn into transferring Bitcoins to the suspects, telling him that he would be buying shares in several companies that had invested in an initial coin offering (ICO) of the startup Dragon Coin.

The victim is said to have transferred the Bitcoins, worth 797 million baht at the time, to the fraudsters’ wallet.

But the Finnish businessman Aarni Saarimaa became suspicious after the said investment companies failed to invite him to board meetings. Police followed up on his complaint and eventually arrested Jiratpisit alongside seven accomplices. They included Jiratpisit’s siblings Thanasit Jaravijit and Supitcha.

After being held briefly, Jiratpisit secured a release on a police bail bond of 2 million baht. The bail condition was that the actor, who maintains innocence in the case, should not attempt to leave the country.

Thai authorities say that the suspects’ bank statements showed huge deposits done supposedly after converting the crypto into fiat. At the time of the initial arrests, police reportedly confiscated several assets, all valued at about 200 million baht (~$6.1 million USD).

Last week, the police indicated that Parinya’s parents would also be charged with money laundering on Oct. 17.

Authorities also announced that two of the initial suspects (businessman Chakris Ahmad and investor Prasit Srisuwan) no longer faced charges after the complainant dropped all charges against them.

Crypto exchange Buda has told its users that they can experiment with Lightning Network (LN), a second layer scaling protocol that guarantees instant payments on the Bitcoin network.

As one of Chile’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Buda has a large user base and hopes that bringing LN on Buda.com will help its users make Bitcoin payments “at the speed of light.”

Make Bitcoin Payments via Lightning Network

In an August blog post, Buda told its users that they would soon find it possible to “make purchases in the supermarket with Bitcoin, using a new technology called Lightning Network.”

On October 12, the company published another blog post, announcing that its users could now use funds in their wallets to pay for goods utilizing the new technology.

According to the exchange, all a user needs to do is to go to a vendor that accepts Lightning Network payments and get an invoice. The user then connects to the exchange’s website and uploads the invoice before proceeding to make the payment.

According to the blog post, a user needs to ascertain their payment details:

“If everything is ok with the details of your purchase, press the ‘Pay’ button, and in moments you will receive a confirmation with the result of your payment.”

The platform has assured its customers that the system will be secure, with only the Bitcoin (BTC) used in the transaction being deducted from their balances. Users can review their LN payment history in the recent list of Bitcoin withdrawals.

What can users buy using LN?

Buda acknowledges that Lightning Network is still in the experimental stage, and its use is still limited. However, to give its users a glimpse of the many possibilities, the startup lists some services accessible via the technology.

According to the firm, users can take advantage of Lightning to purchase prepaid cards or game vouchers on Bitrefill; pay for hosting services on Bitlaunch; use LNSMS to sent text messages “to any cellphone in the world,” and go to CoinMall to purchase games, books or art.

Other websites like Yalls allows users to use Lightning to pay for and read crypto articles, while Satoshi’s Place makes it possible for users to participate in ‘collaborative drawing’ by spending a minimum of 1 satoshi for every pixel.

Buda’s decision follows similar “experimental” moves by a host of other companies seeking to find out the feasibility of the network.

For instance, crypto-to-gold exchange Vaultoro became the first to announce that it would accept Lightning Network deposits. The exchange said at the time that it would limit the deposits to just 100 satoshis, citing the fact that the technology was still in development.

CoinGate, a Bitcoin payment processing company has also been accepting LN payments via a number of merchant services, including Chronoswiss, Mmoga.com, Louis Chevrolet, Bitlaunch, and Livejasmin among others.

Buda.com’s bold move follows positive developments for the crypto exchange industry in Chile after the country’s anti-monopoly court ordered major banks to re-open all bank accounts operated by cryptocurrency exchanges.

“Our goal is to make digitally native assets, such as bitcoin, more accessible to investors […] we expect to continue investing and experimenting, over the long-term, with ways to make this emerging asset class easier for our clients to understand and use.”

With a giant name like Fidelity offering such services, it’s a matter of time before big money starts pouring into the industry.

Head of Fidelity Digital Asset Services explained:

“We saw that there were certain things institutions needed that only a firm like Fidelity could provide […] We’ve got some technology that we’ve repurposed from other parts of Fidelity — we can leverage all of the resources of a big organization.”

Custody and security: breaking the largest barrier to institutional investments

One of the biggest factors that has slowed institutional investment in the industry is the unique custodial needs for digital assets.

For those that are new to the industry, cryptocurrencies are not stored like traditional assets but rather through the use of cryptographic keys. Should these keys be compromised, the assets can be stolen without any recourse, most commonly known as a hack. In 2018 alone, over $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been hacked (stolen) to date.

Fidelity has tremendous experience in managing sensitive information and cybersecurity, making the learning curve for cryptocurrencies less steep for the firm. The head of the new division explained:

“You might look at the crypto world and say, ‘Wow, is this a new thing?’ but we’ve been managing key materials for a long time […] We took our learnings in how to run enterprise security, then through our exploration of bitcoin and some of the people we’ve hired, quickly developed some of the crypto native expertise and federated the two of those things.”

Strict KYC and onboarding process for partner exchanges

Fidelity said that it will be very careful with the exchanges and partners it works with for trade execution and order processing. Jessop explained:

“We have a pretty extensive onboarding procedure for these types of counterparties, which involves diligence on their financial strength as well as their regulatory procedures like ‘know your customer’ and anti-money laundering […] We are certainly only going to connect to those counterparties that we feel good about.”

With the entrance of such an important player and the impact it can have on the market and exchanges’ businesses, it may push more exchanges to become more compliant, leading to a better industry overall.

Fidelity invests heavily in technology

Fidelity is no stranger to investing in new and emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. The company reportedly spends over $2 billion annually on technology, directly and indirectly through incubators.

According to CNBC, Fidelity Digital Asset Services came about from its Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT).

Further, the company’s CEO has a remarkable interest in Bitcoin and the industry and reportedly keeps up to date with every major development. It is neither the first or last cryptocurrency-related product the firm plans to launch.

The president of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim is of the view that distributed ledger technology has huge potential and urged banks and other financial institutions to keep up by adopting the technology.

Distributed ledger technology to help deliver practices

Kim is of the view that the distributed ledger technology has huge potentials and is vital to the World Bank’s goals. He made this statement during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Banks’ Annual Meetings in Bali.

He stated that the mission of the World Bank is to end poverty and boost prosperity and that distributed ledger technology has a huge role to play in achieving that.

The technology could help the World Bank rapidly fight decades of corruption and inefficiencies. He explained that;

We talked about cryptocurrencies but we think distributed ledger [technology] has huge potential and we issued the first blockchain bond in August, where we created, allocated, transferred and managed the entire bond through blockchain technology.

Kim explained further that leveraging distributed ledger tech eliminated most of the paperwork required to issue the first blockchain bonds and severely reduced the issuance costs.

In his words, the World Bank hasn’t been keeping up with the latest developments but they are looking to change that as they aim to provide ways that would help their clients take advantages of the great things that are coming out.

Risks still involved in the fintech space

Talking further about the goals of the World Bank, Kim stated that universal access to financial services by 2020 still remains one of their goals. He stated that there is a huge potential in the Fintech industry.

He added that things usually move fast in the fintech space, even though a few risks still exist in the industry.

Last year, the World Bank threw its weight behind blockchain despite several claims that it is used for Ponzi schemes. Kim, back then, stated that blockchain technology has tons of potential and was attracting the attention of many.

Kim praised Bitcoin, explaining that its network is one of the few instances where distributed ledger tech was used as a currency. He explained that most of the other networks were simply pyramid schemes.

It is therefore very important that if the bank continues studying and applying the tech that they must be certain it won’t be used wrongly.

Kim added that since the organization deals with countries that don’t have tech hubs like Silicon Valley, it is absolutely important that they keep up with these new technologies.

Back in August, the World Bank and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) issued a public bond on a blockchain. The bonds worth $73 million were successfully issued on the Ethereum network without third parties.

Arunma Oteh, a treasurer at the World Bank while commenting on the success of the blockchain-platform stated that they would continue to find ways to take advantage of emerging technologies.

This would help them make the capital markets safer and more efficient, he added.

The cryptocurrency market has experienced a massive surge over the past 24 hours. The market has added $11 billion over the past few hours after rising from $203 billion to now stand at $214 billion.

There was no major catalyst for this market movement as buying pressure slowly resumes to the market.

The 24-hour trading volume meanwhile has increased to $16 billion, up by $7 billion from the $9 billion recorded yesterday.

Bitcoin (BTC) price analysis

The Bitcoin price has surged by more than 6% on most exchanges, rising from $6,376 yesterday to now stand at around $6,400.

However, a drop in confidence around Tether (USDT) sent the price of Bitcoin as high as $7,788 on Bitfinex before dropping back to $6,880. Bitcoin continues to trade at a significant premium on Bitfinex, like due to the heavy selloff of USDT.

The daily trading volume meanwhile is up by $2 billion over the past few hours. BTC’s 24-hour trading volume yesterday was $3.2 billion but has gone up to now stand at $5.3 billion.

The sharp rise of Bitcoin price over the past few hours have seen it revert the recent downtrend. Over the past five days, BTC is up by more than 1% against the US Dollars. It was trading at $6,647 five days ago but has now gone up to $6,740.

Ethereum (ETH) price analysis

The second largest cryptocurrency has gone up by more than 7% over the past 24 hours. ETH was trading at $201 yesterday but has since then surged to now trade at $215. The increase in price came as the general market rose significantly over the past few hours.

The 24-hour trading volume meanwhile gone up by $1 billion. Ethereum’s daily trading volume yesterday was $1.1 billion but has gone up to $2.1 billion.

Ethereum is up by 3% against the USD over the past five days. It was trading at $228 five days ago but experienced a sharp decline before rising to now trade at $215. Despite its rise, Ether is still down by 7.6% against Bitcoin.

Ripple (XRP) price analysis

Ripple has also recorded gains over the past 24 hours, rising by more than 5%. XRP was trading at $0.42 yesterday but has now gone up to trade at $0.44. The daily trading volume meanwhile is up by nearly $400 million over the past 24 hours.

XRP’s 24-hour trading volume yesterday was $322 million but has surged to now stand at $719 million.

Despite its recent price surge, XRP is still down by 3.3% against the US Dollars over the past few days. It was trading at $0.48 five days ago before plunging to below the $0.4 mark but has been slowly recovering since then.

Against Bitcoin meanwhile, XRP is down by 6.4% over the past five days.

EOS (EOS) price analysis

EOS didn’t record massive gains like the other leading cryptocurrencies, rising by less than 3% over the past 24 hours. EOS was trading at $5.25 yesterday and has gone up to now trade at $5.40.

The daily trading volume has meanwhile doubled, rising from $365 million yesterday to its current price at $713 million.

EOS is still down by more than 4% against the greenback over the past five days despite its recent price increase. It was trading at $5.9 five days ago before experiencing a sharp decline like the others but has now embarked on a slow recovery.

It is meanwhile down by roughly 8% against the leading cryptocurrencies over the past five days.

Stellar Lumen (XLM) price analysis

The sixth largest cryptocurrency has finally gone past the $0.21 mark after rising by 3.6% over the past 24 hours. XLM was trading at $0.21 five days ago but experienced a surge over the past few hours and now trades at $0.22.

The 24-hour trading volume has also increased, rising from $38 million to now stand at $62 million.

Over the past five days, Stellar has lost 5.2% of its value against the USD. It was trading at $0.24 five days ago but experienced a slump like another last week before rising significantly yesterday.

It is meanwhile down by roughly 8% against BTC over the past few days.

Litecoin (LTC) price analysis

Litecoin has surged to the $55 mark after rising by more than 3% over the past 24 hours. It was trading at $53 yesterday but took part in the market rise to reach its current price of $55.

The 24-hour trading volume of LTC meanwhile rose from $271 million recorded yesterday to now stand at $350 million.

Against the US Dollars, Litecoin is down by 2% over the past five days. It was trading at $58 five days ago but now trades at $55. It has lost 6% of its value against BTC during that time period.